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A wonderful, forgotten racing story set in The Great Depression.

In 1932, they said there would never be another Phar Lap. Yet within months there came a racehorse so wildly brilliant that he was instantly compared to the dead champion. He was Peter Pan.

Within months of Phar Lap's death, Peter Pan had won the Melbourne Cup and then two years later, won it again - the first horse in 72 years to take home a second. The newspapers of the day called him a 'superhorse' and declared 'another Phar Lap takes the stage.' But over the long years, Australia forgot their new champion.

Peter Pan: The Forgotten Story of Phar Lap's Successor is the tale of the horse that came next - the brilliant, speedy Peter Pan. Casting off the shadow of Phar Lap, this tells the story of triumph during the Great Depression and the coming of a champion when Australia least expected one. It is time to restore the standing of our other great racing hero.

About The Author

Jessica Owers was born the year Kingston Town won his first Cox Plate. In 1988 she was introduced to Phar Lap on the school curriculum, and she has been writing about racehorses ever since. After completing a degree in environmental science and journalism from the University of Stirling, Scotland, Jessica worked as a riding instructor, then staff-writer for the Sydney-based magazines R.M. Williams' Outback and Breeding&Racing. Her work has since been published in Inside Breeding, The Thoroughbred, Turf Monthly and Racing Life, along with various other books and publications across the Australian racing industry. Jessica lives in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Peter Pan: The Forgotten Story of Phar Lap's Successor is her first book, and the result of five years of work. She is currently writing her second racing book.

I knew Peter Pan's story quite well so the detail filled a lot of gaps. The research is extremely thorough and the book goes into a lot of detail which I personally like. The description of the races, the preparation, the crowds etc make the reader feel very much like they are in the moments. Peter Pan was a mighty horse but he came along right after Phar Lap; they were comparable but Phar Lap is better remembered, as much for how he died as how he lived and raced. The author unfortunately uses the last few chapters to try to compare the two champions (with understandably a slight bias to Peter Pan) and every horse follower knows this type of comparison is fraught with danger; they were both great horses; Phar Lap just happened to come along at the right time and his story is much more "Hollywood" than Peter Pan's. What this story does is do great justice to Peter Pan's racetrack feats and some of the obstacles he overcame to achieve his success. In other respects, his story is just one of a great horse. This story/book is more Secretariat than Seabiscuit and will more suit the racing purist than general readership. As a racing lover, I'd like there to be more of these type of books, but they have a limited readership without something romantic or compelling to attach to them.